The sequel to what is possibly the greatest Spider-Man game ever, and one of the few games I've given a perfect 10, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro is a fantastic sequel that manages to deliver the same great gameplay of the original, but a few flaws keep this from being better, or even as good as it's predecessor. I'm just going to go ahead and get the flaws out of the way so that we canThe sequel to what is possibly the greatest Spider-Man game ever, and one of the few games I've given a perfect 10, Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro is a fantastic sequel that manages to deliver the same great gameplay of the original, but a few flaws keep this from being better, or even as good as it's predecessor. I'm just going to go ahead and get the flaws out of the way so that we can focus on the good aspects of this fantastic game. The story is poorly written, and the game has a few levels that are just plain irritating do to poor design choices and crappy level design, and when I say irritating I mean levels that bring on fits of profanity and controller crushing rage, but these sections are few and when I look at all the fun levels and boss fights those few sections where I wanted to tear my hair out are almost forgotten, almost. The game is a lot of fun and has an awesome and slightly odd selection of bosses. What I mean by slightly odd is that most of the bosses are some of the more obscure villains from Spider-Man's history, I mean after all Electro is the main villain. The first games awesome levels are here as well, mixing stealth, excellent puzzles, action and web-slinging together to give you the feeling of actually being Spider-Man. If your looking for another fantastic Spider-Man game Enter Electro is a great choice.…Expand

Spider-Man 2: Enter Electro is quite possibly the most undeservedly overlooked game starring the ol' webhead. Considering Enter Electro is the sequel to one of the most popular games this franchise has ever seen - 2000's brilliant Spider-Man on PS1 and N64 - it's amazing to me that most simply don't realize this game even exists. Especially so when I remember seeing TV spots for this gameSpider-Man 2: Enter Electro is quite possibly the most undeservedly overlooked game starring the ol' webhead. Considering Enter Electro is the sequel to one of the most popular games this franchise has ever seen - 2000's brilliant Spider-Man on PS1 and N64 - it's amazing to me that most simply don't realize this game even exists. Especially so when I remember seeing TV spots for this game airing all the time when I was a kid.

It's a little baffling, since I consider Enter Electro to not only be a better game than its prequel, but one of those amazing late-release PS1 games that served to show what the hardware was capable of and how far it had come from its inception. Enter Electro is a great looking game, for PS1 standards. In comparison to the first game, Spider-Man actually has the web-lines on his costume, and the draw-distance (while not incredibly far) isn't masked by yellow fog anymore. Character models also animate a lot better than they did previously, with hands that actually animate this time around. Environments, lighting effects, particle effects, etc., are all appropriate and impressive. Mouths don't move in cutscenes, and the models used in those look especially bad (but hey, they did in the first game, as well), but when it comes to actual gameplay, Enter Electro looks fantastic.

The control and camera in this game seem to be the sticking point for most players, since they're considered terrible by today's standards, but they definitely are something you can get used to. On top of that, this game largely controls exactly the same as its predecessor, with the only real difference being that Spidey can now shoot web-balls while in mid-air. Other than that, it handles exactly the same way as the fan-adored prequel. They work just fine for the time they were released.

Spider-Man has largely the same attacks as he did in the first game, though I believe the mule kick and hammer attacks have been replaced with more generic punches and kicks. They may not be as visually interesting to watch unfold, but in service of the gameplay, these new attacks don't interrupt your attack strings nearly as much, which is a good thing, as Enter Electro is a relatively short game (only lasting an hour and some change if you REALLY know what you're doing), and is definitely one of the better PS1 games you could choose to speedrun.

The other sticking point I hear from people who didn't enjoy this game is that the bosses are way too hard early-game. I don't think this is true. Aside from the admittedly infuriating airplane level, in which Spidey must move exploding barrels out of an aircraft's way, open doors, and web up the propellers to put a stop to it all, the difficulty of the game seems to be on par, or even less than the original title. Especially the bosses. Once you know how these bosses are taken out, they're incredibly simple. Figuring out exactly how to take them out is most of the fun, though, and Enter Electro takes this concept and runs with it.

Even aside from the bosses, most of the game feels this way. Admittedly, a lot of it can end up being trial and error. When you're trying to get laser turrets to shoot at each other, or trying to figure out how to get around laser trip-wires, the game can be at some of its most infuriating, as well as its best.

The levels here also feel much larger than the original. The rooftop levels surprisingly meld together with city street levels, switching between the ground and the rooftops at will, and this was one of the most satisfying things ever to play. In the first game, if you were playing a rooftop level, you weren't touching the ground. It was explained away that the yellow fog would kill Spider-Man, which always felt cheap, but you don't really find any of that cheapness in Enter Electro. It all feels fully realized.

It's amazing to me that I grew up with so many kids who played the original game and loved it, yet virtually none of them realize that Enter Electro exists. Like I said, I absolutely consider it the better game of the two. It's a bit more balanced, it definitely looks a lot better, and overall, it just feels like a complete package, despite its short length. Beyond your initial playthrough, there's a NG+ mode, three or four different difficulty levels, as well as a variety of different spider-suits, all with different powers. One of the coolest aspects is choosing a costume and applying your own set of powers through the "Create-a-Spider" mode.

Enter Electro is one of those amazing games that's far too overlooked for releasing a little too late in its system's life-cycle. The advent of the PS2, especially in late 2001, with the Raimi Spider-Man movie and accompanying video-game soon on their way, audiences seemed to forget about the mighty PS1, and particularly this fantastic late-release. Pick it up now, if you can. It really is a great game, and its cheap price-tag doesn't hurt anything, either.…Expand